Home, Sweet Home

Last weekend, the four of us with Jack-a-Roo, brought our bikes, the Trail-a-Bike, the Burley, and all our gear up to Bemidji for a fun-filled and eventful few days. Aside from a chance to see family, our mail goal was to ride the Tour De Pines at Lake Itasca State Park with my brother, his wife, and their two munchkins. Even though I haven't ridden far on my hybrid, I had ridden *some* this summer and felt like if I could go at my own pace that I would be able to handle 25 miles on bike trails with rest stops. Seems reasonable, right? Turns out, the lovely, winding bike trails are more rolling than I remembered them being and I pooped out a quarter of the way up most of the steeper hills, having to get off and walk. My patient biking companions probably biked an extra two miles circling back to me, and I was always glad they did. It was a lovely day, poor performance aside.



After the ride, we took the kids down to the Mississippi headwaters and let them scramble around on the rocks. The place was hoppin' so we made it a fairly short visit. On the way home, once we drove back into town, Matthew followed Lyan's truck into the parking lot of the local bike shop. I assume Lyan needs some small part for his bike and decide to come in for the heck of it. A few steps before the door, Lyan announces that he wants to buy me a new bike. "Yeah, right," I laugh it off. "Yep, we're buyin' you a new bike. Pick out the one you want." I suddenly felt like I was on one of those reality shows where they surprise someone with a newly remodeled kitchen. Disbelief, confusion, embarrassment, and then overwhelming giddiness. I drove a couple of upright, hybrid models before somewhat reluctantly trying out a shiny white road bike. Holy cow, this bike moved easily. Suddenly my effort was effective; I pedaled -- the bike glided forward. I came back from the test ride with a big smile on my face. "That was fun," I said, and the amazing thing was, it WAS fun! This was the bike. This was my new bike! Still can't believe it. Thanks, guys.



I had a chance the next day to take the new bike for a spin with an even larger family group and even with a sore butt, the ride was great. It was honestly the most fun I'd had on a bike in many, many years.

During our visit, the girls got a chance to sit in their grampa's studio office and record a couple of short sound bites for use on the radio. Leah's a veteran at this, but this was Nato's first time. She took to the protocol right away and delighted at hearing her own voice on playback.



Matthew and I took a canoe ride down a portion of the Mississippi into Wolf Lake. With a strong headwind, it wasn't the easy slip I had imagined, but for the first half, it was serene and picturesque. Cutting our way through whitecaps on the lake was another story -- one my shoulders are still telling from time to time. Dad pulled our tired souls from the canoe at the landing and we relished a little down time back at home.



Before we left, we took the girls to a local animal park with a bizarre variety of animals, many of which are quite hand tame. Our first introduction was to a lovely, young Red Kangaroo who popped her head up behind the counter and looked at us, as if to say, "How many tickets would you like?"



She was so sweet and didn't seem to mind all the attention. She nuzzled her caretaker and gave little arm hugs with her little hands. Next, the girls met their first white-tailed fawn and acted so casually around it, you'd think they had been raised in the woods.



Natalie terrorized some of the fallow deer and was a little leery about the goats, but otherwise seemed rather blase about it all. Leah took it all in and loved feeding the animals by hand. I have to say that I did too, especially the gentle camel who poked his long neck out the side window of the little barn shed in his enclosure. Leah also liked learning about Jasmine the leopard and her best buddy, Mikey the spaniel. The two animals grew up together and share an enclosure at the park.



Add in lots of good food, laughs, and being able to sleep in a bit, and we had ourselves a darn good weekend. Natalie couldn't leave it all behind so, just as we were packing up the van to head home (no easy feat with a third bike!), she grabbed a few handfuls of dirt and stuffed them in her mouth. Don't ask me why she does this. She is such a little stinker.



Thanks for the great weekend, family! See y'all real soon, I hope. Right now, I think there's a paved bike trail calling my name.